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Kneetime Animals Stories #12
Sharp Eyes, the Silver Fox: His Many Adventures
Sharp Eyes, the silver fox, could run very fast. So could Red Tail. And they knew they must run fast to get away from the dogs of the hunter. For when men go out to hunt wild animals or to trap them, dogs generally go with the men, and though a man can not run as fast as a fox or a deer, dogs can.
Red Tail told this to Sharp Eyes as they hurried along together. Behind them could be heard the rumble and roar of the man’s gun, sounding like thunder.
“Hurry, Sharp Eyes!” cried Red Tail. “Don’t let the hunter see you!”
“What will he do if he sees me?” asked the little fox boy.
“He’ll try to shoot you with his gun. That is, he will if he can not catch you alive.”
“Why would he want to catch me alive?” asked Sharp Eyes, as he trotted along beside the other fox. They slunk down between bushes, ran under fallen trees, crawled beneath old logs, and even ran in brooks of water.
“He’d like to catch you, instead of shooting you, because you are now a small fox, and will be bigger some day,” answered Red Tail. “The bigger you are the more fur you’ll have, and it is for your fine silver fur that the hunter or trapper would like to get you.”
“Wouldn’t he like yours, too?” asked Sharp Eyes.
“Well, yes, I guess he’d take my fur, too, if he could get it,” answered Red Tail. “But mine is not so nice as yours. Of course it keeps me just as warm, and all that, but people who want fox furs seem to like your silver color better, though why, I don’t know. You are a rare fox, and more hunters or trappers will try to get you than would try to get me. So be careful!”
“I will,” promised Sharp Eyes. Then he asked: “Don’t you think we can stop running now and take a rest? I’m tired,” and indeed the little fox boy was weary. His tongue was hanging out of his mouth and his legs ached.
Red Tail told this to Sharp Eyes as they hurried along together. Behind them could be heard the rumble and roar of the man’s gun, sounding like thunder.
“Hurry, Sharp Eyes!” cried Red Tail. “Don’t let the hunter see you!”
“What will he do if he sees me?” asked the little fox boy.
“He’ll try to shoot you with his gun. That is, he will if he can not catch you alive.”
“Why would he want to catch me alive?” asked Sharp Eyes, as he trotted along beside the other fox. They slunk down between bushes, ran under fallen trees, crawled beneath old logs, and even ran in brooks of water.
“He’d like to catch you, instead of shooting you, because you are now a small fox, and will be bigger some day,” answered Red Tail. “The bigger you are the more fur you’ll have, and it is for your fine silver fur that the hunter or trapper would like to get you.”
“Wouldn’t he like yours, too?” asked Sharp Eyes.
“Well, yes, I guess he’d take my fur, too, if he could get it,” answered Red Tail. “But mine is not so nice as yours. Of course it keeps me just as warm, and all that, but people who want fox furs seem to like your silver color better, though why, I don’t know. You are a rare fox, and more hunters or trappers will try to get you than would try to get me. So be careful!”
“I will,” promised Sharp Eyes. Then he asked: “Don’t you think we can stop running now and take a rest? I’m tired,” and indeed the little fox boy was weary. His tongue was hanging out of his mouth and his legs ached.
98 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1918
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May 6, 2020
Raised in the North Woods by his family, Sharp Eyes was a fox with a beautiful silver pelt and keen eyesight. His father warned him that because of his unusual coloring, humans would want to hunt him, and sure enough, our vulpine hero found himself a target while still a young cub. Captured alive, he was eventually sold to a photographer, and brought to a zoo in the city. Ostracized by the other foxes in captivity, he was befriended by Chunky the hippo, and the two were eventually put in the same enclosure. Unhappy to have had his freedom taken away, Sharp Eyes managed to escape, slowly making his way northward toward the wilderness, and meeting up with his family again at the close of the book...
Published in 1918, Sharp Eyes, the Silver Fox: His Many Adventures was the thirteenth entry in Richard Barnum's seventeen-volume Kneetime Animal Stories series, and over the course of the book the vulpine hero meets animals - Slicko, the jumping squirrel, Tum Tum, the elephant, Chunky, the hippo - whose adventures are chronicled in other volumes of the series. This is the only volume of the series I have thus far read, and I sought it out because of my interest in the depiction of foxes in children's literature. For the most part, I didn't find it a particularly strong example of animal fiction, and I don't know, despite my enjoyment of the genre and my interest in vintage children's series, that I will be tracking any other titles down. There is a confidential, rather patronizing tone adopted by the narrator here that I found somewhat off-putting - a way of addressing the young reader directly, to draw comparisons between animal and human life. At one point the narrator informs the reader that animals must hunt for food, because they don't have a store in which to buy it. Apparently they also don't store food, because they have no pantries or ice boxes. Leaving aside the fact that many animal species do store food, and that not all humans in 1918 would have gotten their food mostly from the store, this kind of narratorial style just irritated me. I suspect the author - who appears to have been one of many Stratemeyer Syndicate creations - was trying to create animal stories that were both educational and entertaining, but in the end I found the style overly "cutesy," and rather annoying. I don't know that I'd completely rule out ever reading any of the other sixteen Kneetime Animal Stories, but they're definitely not high on the list of priorities. Recommended chiefly to fellow fox enthusiasts, who have the completist's urge to read everything they can get hold of.
Published in 1918, Sharp Eyes, the Silver Fox: His Many Adventures was the thirteenth entry in Richard Barnum's seventeen-volume Kneetime Animal Stories series, and over the course of the book the vulpine hero meets animals - Slicko, the jumping squirrel, Tum Tum, the elephant, Chunky, the hippo - whose adventures are chronicled in other volumes of the series. This is the only volume of the series I have thus far read, and I sought it out because of my interest in the depiction of foxes in children's literature. For the most part, I didn't find it a particularly strong example of animal fiction, and I don't know, despite my enjoyment of the genre and my interest in vintage children's series, that I will be tracking any other titles down. There is a confidential, rather patronizing tone adopted by the narrator here that I found somewhat off-putting - a way of addressing the young reader directly, to draw comparisons between animal and human life. At one point the narrator informs the reader that animals must hunt for food, because they don't have a store in which to buy it. Apparently they also don't store food, because they have no pantries or ice boxes. Leaving aside the fact that many animal species do store food, and that not all humans in 1918 would have gotten their food mostly from the store, this kind of narratorial style just irritated me. I suspect the author - who appears to have been one of many Stratemeyer Syndicate creations - was trying to create animal stories that were both educational and entertaining, but in the end I found the style overly "cutesy," and rather annoying. I don't know that I'd completely rule out ever reading any of the other sixteen Kneetime Animal Stories, but they're definitely not high on the list of priorities. Recommended chiefly to fellow fox enthusiasts, who have the completist's urge to read everything they can get hold of.
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